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Pentagon: Less Than 1 Percent Of Strikes On The Islamic State Kill Civilians

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Smoke rises over Syrian town of Kobani after an airstrike, as seen from the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the town of Suruc in this file October 18, 2014 file photo. A U.S.-led military coalition has been bombing Islamic State fighters who hold a large swathe of territory in both Iraq and Syria, two countries involved in complex multi-sided civil wars in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake. The Turkish military and police had declared the Turkish-Syrian border area a "military zone", which limits the ability of the press to move around. In these days of modern warfare, the weaponry is more powerful than that in the old days. So all of my colleagues and I have to be doubly careful to ensure we do not end up in the line of fire, as positions of Kurdish YPG fighters and IS militants change quickly. For all those reasons, to stay away is the only solution at the moment. We ended up on hills about 2km (1.24 miles) away from Kobani using very long telephoto lenses, often more than 1000mm, to get a peek into the city while listening to the sound of war and smelling its scent. Sometimes you see a shadow of a fighter hiding behind a building and more often you see the massive impact of heavy airstrikes. It is a bit strange sitting there with lenses I usually use for sports photography alongside people from the area, who come to the hills to see what's going on. They bring binoculars and make tea - making it almost seems like a tourist attraction. - Kai Pfaffenbach REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) ATTENTION EDITORS: THIS PICTURE IS PART OF THE PACKAGE 'PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2014 - THE PHOTOGRAPHERS' STORY'. SEARCH 'PHOTOGRAPHERS' STORY' FOR ALL IMAGES' - RTR4FOX1

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By Saagar Enjeti

Less than 1 percent of the nearly 18,000 U.S.-led coalition airstrikes on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria yielded reports of possible civilian casualties, according to the Pentagon’s monthly civilian casualty assessment.

Of the less than one percent of strikes that resulted in possible civilian casualties, only a small fraction involved confirmed deaths of civilians, the Pentagon reports. The assessment found .24 percent of the total number of strikes resulted in confirmed deaths of civilians. Since coalition strikes began in August, 2014, the Pentagon concluded 229 civilians have been killed.

The reports numbers may rise after the Pentagon’s review of a March 17 airstrike supporting the Iraqi Security Forces’s advance on the city of Mosul. The strike apparently played a role in collapsing a building that resulted in the death of nearly 200 civilians. The U.S. believes ISIS  intentionally placed them in the basement of the building to embarrass the U.S. with civilian casualties.

“My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties,” commander of the U.S. mission in Iraq Army Lt. Gen Stephen Townsend told reporters. Townsend clarified that the types of U.S. munitions used should not have collapsed the structure, indicating ISIS booby traps may have played a role.

“What you see now is not the use of civilians as human shields,” Army Col. Joseph Scrocca said of ISIS’s tactics. “Now it is something much more sinister.” Civilian casualty incidents may multiply as the U.S. supports the most brutal phase of the Iraqi Security Force advance on Mosul. The Iraqi’s are currently assaulting the most crowded and narrow part of Mosul in what has turned into a bitter urban slog.

Nearly 400,000 civilians remain inside ISIS controlled Mosul, and they may be used increasingly as human shields as ISIS hangs on to the last of its territory in Iraq. “We go out of our way to always do everything humanly possible to reduce the loss of life or injury among innocent people,” Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters after the March 17 incident.

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